Woodpeckers damage or destroy millions of wood poles annually by boring and nesting, obviously resulting in great economic loss.
Attempts have been made to effect repair of wood poles damaged by woodpeckers. Prior art repair techniques include, for example, filling the void space in the pole with various materials including thermo-setting resins, rocks, or concrete, and/or covering the hole with metal-screen material.
These prior art techniques have not been satisfactory. Not only are they expensive and time consuming, they do not deal with certain basic problems which must be addressed when repairing woodpecker holes.
It is quite common for the wood in the interior of a pole surrounding a woodpecker hole to consist of soft, or punky, wood, a result of decay caused by damage to the pole within its interior. For pole repair to be truly effective, an adequate degree of bond must exist between the repair material and the deteriorating wood to provide a structural transfer of load from the wood pole to the repair material. Prior art repair techniques do not resolve this problem in an effective manner.
When wooden utility poles must be climbed to effect repair or maintenance, it is quite common for the person doing the climbing to use conventional climbing spikes or gaffs. The repaired wood-pole section must be sufficiently soft to allow the penetration of these gaffs yet strong enough to withstand the weight of the person using them. It will be appreciated that the prior art wood pole repair materials identified above do not lend themselves to use with a climbing gaff.